Crazy New Interview:

Francis denounces “Idolatry of Space greater than Time”, says “the True Religions are the Development of the Capacity that Humanity has to Transcend Itself towards the Absolute”

October 31 is almost upon us — officially “Reformation Day” in Martin Luther’s Germany — and the Novus Ordo Antipope Jorge Bergoglio will use the occasion to travel to Lund, Sweden, to celebrate the 499th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation with his fellow-non-Catholics there in the Lutheran Church of Sweden — a “Christian” denomination that is pro-abortion, pro-contraception, pro-sodomy, and has a woman “Archbishop” as its head. It is only at the behest of the region’s “Catholics” that Francis decided to stick around for another day while there, to celebrate “Mass” for the Feast of All Saints with them. Originally he was going to go straight back to Rome after paying his obeisance to the work of the world’s most notorious heretic, Martin Luther. (We saw a preview of this just the other day, when a statue of Luther was set up in the Vatican’s audience hall and Francis happily received a huge copy of Luther’s 95 Theses.)

On the eve of his trip to Lund, Francis agreed to the umpteenth interview, this time published by the Modernist Jesuit rag La Civiltà Cattolica, formerly a splendid Catholic publication established during the reign of Pope Pius IX. The interview was conducted by “Frs.” Ulf Jonsson and Antonio Spadaro, S.J., and published in the original Italian as well as in a working English translation. You can find both texts here:

We have picked out for you what we believe to be the most salient statements Francis made in this 8-page interview — please proceed at your own risk:

“I remember well when Archbishop [!] Antje Jackelén came here to the Vatican in May 2015 on an official visit. She gave a very nice speech. … Then I was also able to greet her husband. They are truly pleasant people. Then as pope, I went to preach in the Lutheran Church of Rome. I was very impressed with the questions that they asked then: that of the child and that of the woman on intercommunion. Beautiful and profound questions. And the pastor of that church is really good!”

“Luther took a great step by putting the Word of God into the hands of the people. Reform and Scripture are two things that we can deepen by looking at the Lutheran tradition.”

“Continuing to dialogue and to study the issues clearly belongs to the theologians…. I have asked Patriarch Bartholomew if what was told about Patriarch Athenagoras was true, what he said to Paul VI: «Let the two of us go ahead and we will put the theologians on an island to discuss among themselves». He told me that it was a true remark.”

“Personally, I believe that enthusiasm must shift towards common prayer and the works of mercy — work done together to help the sick, the poor, and the imprisoned.”

“There is a policy we should have clear in every case: to proselytize in the ecclesial field is a sin. Benedict XVI told us that the Church does not grow by proselytism, but by attraction. Proselytism is a sinful attitude. It would be like transforming the Church into an organization. Speaking, praying, working together: this is the path that we must take. Look, in ecumenism the one who never makes a mistake is the enemy, the devil. When Christians are persecuted and murdered, they are chosen because they are Christians, not because they are Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, Catholics or Orthodox. An ecumenism of blood exists.”

“Every person is capable of becoming a terrorist simply by using the tongue. I don’t speak of the quarrels that are done openly, like wars. I speak about a sneaky terrorism that you do by throwing words like «bombs» and that do a lot of evil. … This terrorism is difficult to subdue.”

“There are idolatries connected to religion: the idolatry of money, of enmities, of space greater than time, the greed of the territoriality of space. There is an idolatry of the conquest of space, of dominion, that attacks religions like a malignant virus. And idolatry is a false religion, it is wrong religiosity. I call religion «an immanent transcendence», namely a contradiction. But the true religions are the development of the capacity that humanity has to transcend itself towards the absolute. The religious phenomenon is transcendent and it has to do with truth, beauty, goodness and unity. If there isn’t this openness, there is no transcendence, there is no true religion, there is idolatry.”

“I have an allergy to talking about spaces, but I always say that you see things better from the peripheries than you do the center.”

“If the young don’t prophesy, the Church lacks air.”

[Regarding what a person loses who does not believe in God:] “It is not losing something, but is about not adequately developing a capacity for transcendence.”

“I see a healthy coexistence [between “Catholics” and Swedish culture] where each one can live their faith and express their witnessing living an open and ecumenical spirit. You cannot be Catholic and sectarian. We must strive to be together with others. «Catholic» and «sectarian» are two words in contradiction. This is why at the beginning I wasn’t planning to celebrate a Mass for the Catholics on this trip. I wanted to insist on an ecumenical witness.”

“Don’t remain closed in rigid perspectives, because in these there is no possibility of reform.”

Comments would be superfluous at this point, but let’s recall what St. Paul told St. Timothy under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called. Which some promising, have erred concerning the faith” (1 Tim 6:20-21).